Serious flooding in south after downpour

30 June 2005, AMSTERDAM — The June heatwave was a distant memory on Wednesday night as downpours caused serious flooding in parts of the south of the Netherlands.

30 June 2005

AMSTERDAM — The June heatwave was a distant memory on Wednesday night as downpours caused serious flooding in parts of the south of the Netherlands.

The town of Gorinchem in Zuid-Holland province has been particularly hard hit. A police spokesperson told news agency ANP on Thursday morning that some houses had been flooded by between 30 and 40 centimetres of water.

Many streets in the town of 34,000 people are impassable and parked cars have been surrounded by water.

All the emergency services are working together to cope with the problems, which are mainly focused in the centre of the town.

The police had received about 100 reports of flooding by 3.20am on Thursday "and that was at a time most of the people in the town were still sleeping", the spokesperson said.

Seven fire engines went to work in the early hours of the morning to pump out flooded streets, houses and basements. The water was knee-deep in some areas.

The municipality is setting up a special phone number for members of the public who are seeking assistance. No one had yet been forced to abandon their home in the town, the spokesman said.

Earlier on Wednesday night there were many reports of flooding in parts of Noord-Brabant and Limburg provinces.

Residents of a nursing home in Woudrichem in Noord-Brabant had to be temporarily evacuated due to the flooding.

Weather service KNMI indicated that the storms which were active in a line from Nijmegen to IJmuiden around midnight were now dissipating as they moved north in the direction of Den Helder.

But Nijmegen could experience some unsettled weather and rain into Thursday morning, the KNMI said.